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Only 5% Of UK Investors Have Made ‘gains’ In Crypto

London investment house IW Capital have shared research with The Express showing that 20 million British people do not ‘understand’ cryptocurrency. The study showed 38% had a lack of ‘understanding’ and even more concerning, only 5% had actually made a profit in the space.

The Mayfair-based SME investment house concluded after gathering data from over 2,000 individuals, the majority of which thought investing in cryptocurrency is ‘inferior’ to that of a traditional market, saying that the ‘bitcoin bubble will soon burst.’

Moreover, only 7% of people thought that it was more valuable than your more traditional stock trading, with only 5% making ‘financial gains’.

Bitcoin, which wouldn’t stop climbing in 2017 and peaked around $20,000 became pretty ‘hot’ in the news and among those wanting to jump on and make some profit. A wave of new investors flooded the market and the crash of bitcoin in January would have flushed a lot of them out, probably at a loss.

IW Capital said:

“The data reveals that, fundamentally, Brits do not have enough information or knowledge on the topic of cryptocurrency. In fact, many have no knowledge about the subject whatsoever.”

While it is understandable that a lot of people will have seen the hype surrounding bitcoin and it’s climb to fame, the fact that so many did so blindly and haven’t carried out their own research beforehand is a little concerning. The report continues:

“Despite a widespread dearth of knowledge surrounding this particular asset class, disconcertingly, 1 in 20 Brits - nearly 3 million - have invested in cryptocurrency without fully understanding it, with only 5 percent having taken advice from a financial adviser when investing in cryptocurrencies.”

Their CEO, Luke Davis, stated:

“It is shocking, but not surprising, to see so much confusion around the topic of cryptocurrency. I do not believe this is a reflection of UK investors’ risk profile, as a positive appetite for alternative finance remains, but to see that investments have been made without proper financial advice and a lack of facts and education is very concerning.”

Personally, I think it’s great that the word about cryptocurrency is spreading, and it’s not crazy to think that if someone - who has never heard of Bitcoin before - sees it on the news as a giant new craze to make money, is going to jump straight in without much thought to try and make some of their own.

Let’s just hope that those who did get burned by the crash in January, are intrigued by the technology enough to make a dive back in, this time equipped with more knowledge and understanding of what they’re buying.